Class 1A
by Fluff Inc
Summary: The transfer student has blond hair, blue eyes, a foreign surname, and a nervous smile. AU.
1. introduction

A new student is introduced a few weeks after the beginning of classes. The girls whisper excitedly among themselves and the guys size him up while their homeroom teacher stumbles over his foreign surname.

He is understandably nervous. Haruhi looks past the blond hair and the blue eyes and takes note of the tension in his mouth and the hands shoved into his pockets as if to hide their shaking.

Everyone, including Haruhi, is taken aback when he speaks in flawless Japanese. And when their teacher directs him to the empty seat beside her, she could only stare.

Up close she can see the streaks of brown in his hair, how ridiculously long his eyelashes are and the fact that his eyes are more violet than blue.

"Nice to meet you Fujioka-kun." His smile is tentative and she confirmed that his hands were indeed shaking, now that he was clasping them tightly on top of his desk.

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you too Gra—" before she could demonstrate her inability to speak French, the new student cuts her off.

"You can call me Tamaki."


	2. first names

"Fujioka-kun, is it alright to call you by your first name?"

Haruhi stares at him and before he can reply, he blurts out an explanation. "I-I don't mean to be rude or presumptuous. But even though people say my Japanese is quite good I'm not comfortable with using honorifics and it feels awkward to call people by their surname, so, so…"

He trails off uncertainly and he directs a teary and woeful gaze at her, which she would learn to be wary of in the future.

"It's okay. I call you by your first name so it's fair, I think. You can call me Haruhi."


	3. deviation

Haruhi got along well enough with her classmates. She could sometimes notice them eye her well-worn clothes and her ill-fitting glasses but breeding apparently comes with money since no one bullies her or speaks ill of her. (She blames her worries on her father, really. He watches too many dramas for a middle aged man, even if he is a cross dresser). And even if they did, they do it discreetly.

Her classmates are polite. Polite, but distant, and quite frankly she prefers it that way. Friends would only be a distraction to her studies.

But Tamaki is different.

He greets her cheerfully every morning without fail. He questions her incessantly about Japanese culture and he always invites her to eat lunch with him.

He is annoying, loud and ditzy but before she knows it, she can't help but label him as a _friend_. She doesn't want to think too hard on how that particular development occurred. But they're friends and that's that. It's a friendship built on instant ramen noodles, grocery coupons, and Japanese snacks but truthfully Haruhi doesn't mind him so much, overacting aside.

Tamaki is, above all things, sincere and she appreciates that in a person.


	4. exception

Everybody likes Tamaki. _Everybody_.

The girls were easy. All he had to do was smile and string together florid adjectives and the blush and accompanying sighs were sure to follow.

The guys were surprisingly easy too. He appealed to their interests and tried to find a common ground with them. Tamaki surprisingly knew a variety of topics. He could talk sports, current events, music, art, movies and goodness knows what else.

Heck, even gardeners liked him. She saw him talking to one about gardenias or something.

Haruhi has heard of the saying you can't please everybody, but apparently, Tamaki is the exception to that rule.

"Haruhi, Haruhi, look! I found this mechanical pencil at that store you recommended. The bear looks like my Kuma-chan!"

It really shouldn't, but the stupid look on his face was enough to put a reluctant smile on her lips.

Everybody likes Tamaki.

And that included her.


	5. tradition

It took a lot of cajoling but Tamaki finally convinced her to eat with him at the cafeteria.

Another lesson learned about Tamaki Grandtaine: he was annoyingly persistent.

Haruhi is used to eating her lunch alone at an empty classroom so she had to step back and take a moment to process the fact that the cafeteria had floor to ceiling glass windows, marbled tiles and Rococo-themed furniture.

Her knees feel a bit weak when she walks toward an empty table. She thought she had gotten used to the flamboyant ways of the obscenely rich but apparently she was wrong.

She slowly unties the _furoshiki _and she carefully opens the lid to her bento. Now all she has to do is wait for Tamaki. She tries to sit perfectly still with her hands clenched at her lap. The chair is well upholstered but somehow Haruhi can't help but feel uncomfortable.

It feels like it's been an hour when Tamaki finally joins her. He puts down a tray with what looks like the contents of an entire five course meal.

He beams at her after sitting down.

"Shall we? _Itadakimasu_!"

"_Itadakimasu_," murmurs Haruhi with infinitely more serenity.

She's almost halfway through her food when she noticed that Tamaki has barely touched his food.

"Tamaki-san, is anything the-"

Puppy eyes. He was staring at her with the woe and helplessness that could only possibly be attributed to abandoned puppies.

Warily, Haruhi asked him again. "Is anything the matter?"

"H-Haruhi is that an actual, _real_ bento?"

"Erm, yes…?" The question mark at the end of her sentence was unwarranted but no one had asked her before what an actual, _real_ bento was. Were there even any fake bentos?

"Can I please try some?"

This is how they end up sharing half of each other's food during every lunch.

* * *

><p>Notes: Itadakimasu seems to be a popular enough expression, so hopefully no explanations are needed. If I'm not mistaken the furoshiki refers to the cloth usually wrapped around bentos. Also, I'm not sure about the spelling of Tamaki's surname (his mother's maiden name in the manga). Corrections are welcome.<p> 


End file.
